First Mission
by angelsoflove
Summary: Angel Campbell has been in and out of spy work in the short 15 years of her life and she never wants to be involved in it again. But it does manage to come back into her life, this time she is to be killed. Will her former trainee be able to save her?


**CHAPTER 1**

I Angel Campbell never fully completed any form of training in my life. Examples? When I was seven I joined ballet and quit two years later. I quit playing the piano after 6 years. I also quit learning swimming, horse riding, dancing, yoga, and anything else you might be able to think of.

Don't mistake me; it's not that I'm fickle. It's because every time I take part in these activities, I have this feeling that this area was not my 'calling' or whatever you may call it. I felt that there was something else I was meant to do with my life, something more important, and something I would never dislike or grow tired of. I kept searching for that special something, that light in the darkness. It was like searching for something in the dark, I knew it was somewhere but I didn't know where it was or how to find it or even what it was. I eventually found it, and along with that, changed my world forever.

When I was nine, I joined a martial arts academy with my brother, Jared, who was eight. Joining the academy was Jared's idea. He was the one who was constantly fascinated by the world of martial arts, watching martial arts movies, documentaries on fighting and even playing similar games.

I followed him to join the martial academy only because my mother kept nagging me about how it was my responsibility to look after my younger brother because I was older, I had to learn to be responsible and caring, I had to set a good example for him et cetera. It really gets on my nerves.

It turned out that I had a real big talent in martial arts. At ten years of age, after learning martial arts for just a short six months, I could beat almost everyone in the martial arts academy except of course for the school's founder, Mr Sutton. Mr Sutton was not the real founder of the academy, but they never actually told us who founded it, everyone just knew that it wasn't Mr Sutton. My brother however soon tired of the tough training schedule and eventually quit. Most people usually quit after some time anyway, the training was really vigorous. Training was held every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, therefore keeping us from home until dinner time on these days.

I really loved doing martial arts. I felt this was what I was really searching for.

One day, Mr Sutton called me out of class to follow him. He brought me to his office, though his office didn't really look like an office. There were no computers or files that usually littered offices; instead there were different types of weaponry hanging on the right wall, some weaponry on racks against the back wall and a whole line up of trophies in a cupboard in front of Mr Sutton's desk which was placed against the left wall. There had to be at least fifty trophies in there.

In Mr Sutton's chair, there sat a middle aged man who looked to be in his thirties, and looked very strict. But maybe the way he looked had to do with his attire. He was dressed in a shirt and tie, like a business man, behind him on the back of the chair hung his coat. His face was stern, and his lips were thin, and small eyes that were slightly bigger than slits, as if he scrutinised everything he saw. Which is true. And as if in contrast he had a big rounded nose. The only feature on his face that was kind, like God had put it there as a touch up deciding that without it he would look too mean. Which _probably_ is true.

I still remember how the conversation went although that was five years ago.

"_Angel, your achievements and talents have come to my attention." Mr Jones began, while jumbled thoughts filled my head. Did I do something wrong? Is he going to expel me from the academy? But I don't remember doing anything against the rules._

"_What I would like to say next must be kept an absolute secret." Mr Jones continued. _

_I nodded my head dumbly in reply; I had no idea at that time that the decision I would make would change my life forever._

By the end of that conversation, I had agreed to join a spy training agency.

I quit, two years later, with only one year of training left before I could become an official spy. Of course, I still had the chance to complete my studies before working for them. But once you passed the third year, you were theirs.

The reason why I quit is simple. I was scared.

Every month, there were girls, boys, even adults who I had come to know, who became spies. Some came back often, some couldn't because they were sent on long term missions, and yet some others could never come back. Ever. Their parents were not even given the chance to find out how their child died. They were simply supplied with a fake story.

I quit. And I never regretted it. But somehow, it managed to creep back into my life.

1

CHAPTER 2

It was a typical day in July, and the sun that was scorching down on my back felt like it was cooking me alive. But there was consolation in the fact that it really couldn't get any hotter than this here in Frostburg. I switched my sling bag over to my left shoulder, relieving my right shoulder of its weight. I continued trudging up the hill to my house. Sometimes I really hated the fact that my house was on a hill, it was always a chore to climb up especially after a tiring day. But then again, all the houses around here were on hills.

It was the summer holidays but my parents insisted that I took a job somewhere instead of hanging around at home. So, now I work at the local minimart with my best friend, Geri. But then, she's not there because I asked her to come with me (which I did) but because her crush, Ryan, is working there too.

As I was passing the junction about ten houses ahead of my house, a van sped out of the lane on my left, coming to a screeching stop diagonally in the middle of the road.

Weird? Definitely.

A second later, a group of about half a dozen men jumped out the back door of the van and ran towards me. I swivelled round looking whether there were other people around whom they might be heading for. But there was only me. It took my brain another few precious seconds before it processed what was happening.

Those guys were after me.

I took off, continuing up the hill towards my house. Looking back, I wondered what I was thinking. Running down the hill would have been a much better idea. Easier and brings them further from my family.

After taking a few steps, the first caught up with me. He grabbed my right shoulder just as I sent a back kick straight in to his stomach. He released my shoulder as I heard the breath gush out of him.

I continued running.

The next two caught up with me and I finished them off in a similar fashion.

The fourth and the fifth grabbed me on both sides. But they seemed to have changed tactics. They weren't attacking me. They swung me around and held me in place between their bodies.

They were really strong. I couldn't move an inch.

That's when I saw the sixth guy, he was charging towards me with a syringe in hand.

I am so dead.

Suddenly, another silhouette appeared and sent a flying kick into my sixth attackers head, seeing my chance, I sent my elbow into the stomach of the guy on my right, following up with a spinning kick into his chest. I heard sounds of fighting behind me as well. I stooped to pick up my bag that had fallen onto the ground. Shivering as I did so, who were these people and why had they attacked me? And they attacked me so close to home so they probably know where I live. If that is true then my whole family is in danger.

Who is this person who helped me? Why did he or she help me? There was something strange about all of this; I just could not put my finger on it. But I was planning to find out.

"Hey, thanks." I said.

"No prob, Angie, I was only doing my job."

My back stiffened, and I heard that oh so familiar laugh. Oh. My. Gawd.

"Matt?" I slowly turned around and looked at the, excuse me, cute plus hot guy standing there.

"Nice to see you again too, Angie" he said still grinning.

4 years ago...

"Angie, Connor," I heard Mr Jones, the principal of the spy training centre where I was training now instead of the academy, call out. The two of us immediately stopped our training and jogged over to where he was standing.

Behind him were two boys, both looked slightly older then I was. One had dark brown to black hair, and blue eyes while the other had a sandy yellow mob of hair with blue eyes .

Both were equally scrawny.

"Angie, you'll take Matt, teach the basics. Connor you'll take Nick, same thing."

"Yes, sir."

I got the guy with dark brown to black hair.

I led him to the side of the training hall.

"There are twelve basic levels in our training, these patterns you must never forget, okay?"

"yes, ma'am!" he saluted and grinned at me.

I taught him for six weeks. I could see he was an exceptional talent, better than me even; he mastered all twelve levels in just six weeks, which was half the normal time people took. I, myself took nine weeks. I quit shortly after finishing teaching him, but I never forgot his voice or his distinctive grin. And of course, his mischievous chuckle.

CHAPTER 3

"So, what are you doing here?" I asked as we climbed up the hill to my house. Matt had told me to go first and had caught up with me after a few minutes.

I heard another chuckle. "You are pretty deaf, huh?"

I looked blankly at him, noting that he had filled out a lot since five years ago. His chest had become muscled, broader than I remembered it to be. His upper arms also rippled with muscles, though it wasn't as big as those guys on WWE (which is good, don't mistake me. Those guys look horrible). All in all, his physique looked wonderful, perfect through and through.

He sighed.

"I told you it's my job."

"It's your job to appear just at the right time to hit some random guy who is attacking me?"

I saw no connection at all. He sighed again.

"I see you are a bit slow." Chuckle.

I glared at him. "Your explaining skills are not very good either." I retorted. He ignored me.

'My job is to stalk you.'

'Err... I am thinking stalking is illegal.'

'Okay, fine. I am protecting you, in nicer terms.'

'From what? And do you do it 24/7?'

And he told me what I had already suspected.

"The men you saw just now were sent by an organisation that calls themselves the Nexus. They have already captured or killed twelve dozen agents that used to work for us, but from what I saw just now I think they most likely have captured them to extract information from them. Anyway, all agents have two bodyguards following them. To answer your earlier question, we take it in shifts, Rob and I are your bodyguards. I take the day he takes the night. From seven to seven." I didn't recognise the name rob so he must have joined after I quit or finished training before I came.

"We are still trying to catch whoever is in this organisation," Matt continued, "so far those six guys are or will be the first we've caught. I injected them just now and put a call through to the office, they will send a team down to take them." I looked up into his face. It was serious, showing no sign of his usual mischievousness.

However, I was still curious on a few accounts.

"Did you choose to bodyguard me or was it just coincidence?" I looked up again. All signs of his mischievousness that had previously vanished were all back.

"Secret."

I rolled my eyes and laughed.

"Okay. If you were protecting me, why did you wait so long before appearing to help me? It would have saved me a lot of trouble." I turned to look at him, by now we were standing outside my house just beside the gate hidden from the house by the wall. Matt turned to face me too.

"That was just orders. 'You are not to appear until your charge is in danger so as to not alert our suspects unnecessarily.' You know Mr Jones."

I nodded grimly, that was Mr Jones alright, no taking chances.

"Anyway, you know we are also trying to catch whoever we can so as to torture the truth out of them. Or maybe being the evil man that he is, Mr Jones might toss them alive into the furnace, or zap them with electricity!" the cheeky twinkle was back in his eye. Just seeing it alone brought a smile to my face.

"Now that I've answered your questions could you please invite me into your house? Please? It's really hot out here." He looked expectantly at me, obviously trying to look innocent, what with the cute baby eyes he had used so many times when I taught him.

Honestly it was working. Like it always did.

I relented, "fine. But my mum's at home so you can't walk in the front door that will have horrible repercussions. Come in through my window. Wait for my signal."

"Thanks Angie!" he grinned.

When I walked into the house, I found mum slumped on the couch, feet resting on one armrest her back leaning on the other such that she took up the whole sofa. She was flicking the channels on the television, looking bored.

"Hi Angel darling!" my mum said as soon as she heard me come into the living room, "How was work today? Are you hungry? Do you want some food?"

Sigh. My ever loving mother. But the thought of eating whatever food she had was quite revolting. My mother was really a terrible cook.

"No thanks mom! Work was fine. I'm a bit tired, I'm going to rest!" I shouted downwards as I sprinted up the parquet steps taking them two at a time.

I had only left Matt for a few minutes but I already felt like seeing him again, hearing his mischievous laugh, and seeing his cheeky grin.

I reached my room and found that the door was slightly ajar, showing the usual signs that my mother had been snooping around the room again. Since I had entered high school my mum seems to have felt it was high time I got a boyfriend, and she had been snooping around since then. Sadly I have had none. So far. 

I pushed my door open and dumped my bag in the corner which was formed by my closet and the wall which the doorframe was connected to, before closing my door again. I have to admit, my closet is actually pretty much larger than any other I have ever seen, stretching from a foot from my door all the way to the far wall. Not saying, of course, that I'm rich. My mum just believes that any girl my age needs an extensive wardrobe to attract our male equivalents.

I started towards the window when I saw the silhouette.

That's not Matt was my first thought which was quickly overtaken by panic, when I saw that the guy really had muscles the size of those people on WWE, and he was charging straight for me.

Well, not really charging. Actually just taking strides three times the size of mine. (But it does count as charging doesn't it?) He was huge.

Well, at least he is alone; I just might be able to take him out.

I sprinted forward for momentum, I was planning to put a flying kick straight to his groin, and take him out with another move or two. He wasn't the least intimidated by the running though he would be sorry when my kick landed.

But when I was just a foot from him, foot stretched out in the air, he deftly blocked my kick with one hand and countered with a hit to my solar plexus.

I staggered back, winded and gasping for breath. I didn't manage to hit him, but his hit had proved something. He wasn't after my life. If he had used full force I would have died from that hit.

Great! So I wouldn't have to die. Yet. How reassuring!

The guy started towards me again, this time with a syringe identical to the last one in his hand. I back pedalled, after taking about three steps, I backed into my cupboard. I needed a plan. Fast.

Suddenly, he stopped charging, a look of complete horror plastered on his face, his raised hand loosened and the syringe clattered noisily onto the floor of my bedroom. I scurried like a scared animal to the corner of my room where the cupboard joined to the wall. The man took one more step forward and fell facedown into my heart shaped rug, a knife sticking out of his back just below the left shoulder blade. I recognised the carved insignia of the spy agency, the soft cushioning of the handle which was designed to give agents better grip, giving them an edge.

By now you must be wondering why I keep calling the spy agency just that, instead of what the whole world assumes is the real intelligence service (a.k.a. CIA). CIA is just a cover story.

'You alright?' I heard Matt say from the window where he had thrown the knife.

'I think so.' I didn't feel anything wrong with me, though I guess I should be feeling traumatised. The spy agency had trained me too well; I wasn't the least intimidated by dead bodies and stuff like that.

But I really wasn't sure if killing this guy here was the right thing to do. I mean, sure if Matt hadn't killed him, I would have been fast asleep and oblivious to the fact that I was being carried to my ultimate doom. But then again, I didn't feel good that that guy had been killed.

It was kind of a battle of morals and reasoning, I guess that's why I have never been able to stand spy work, where it was kill or be killed. I pushed my mental confrontation to the back of my mind as Matt kept his cell phone which he had been speaking into and spoke up.

'Do you think you could get your mother out of the house for a while? I have contacted the agency. They will come in to pick up the body and the usual. It's best if your mother is not present.'

I nodded. I understood what he meant. Mr Jones didn't like to leave traces behind, so there was a whole department dedicated to picking up the pieces that were left behind whenever they could. And having my mom in the house kind of made their job a whole lot harder.

What could I do with my mom? I began to think.

I could borrow Matt's cell and call her somewhere else or go out with her. But what could I go out with her and do? I hadn't gone out with her in ages and didn't relish the thought of it. But then if she's really what I think her to be, then she would be so delighted that I would want to go out with her (because I had stopped doing that long ago) that she wouldn't question this sudden invitation, she had been waiting so long for and that would ensure that I was there to make sure she stayed out long enough. And the most painless thing I could think of (at least for me) was going shopping. (I needed some clothes anyway.)

I looked back at Matt and realised he had been staring at me watching me grimace at the thought of going out with my mom. On his face was a half grin that suggested that he knew I was so not enthusiastic about spending girl time with my mom. Then again, after spending five days following me he probably knew what my mom was like.

'Fine,' I breathed out heavily, preparing myself for what was to come, a silent resolution to try not to run away half way on our shopping trip. 'I'll go.'

'What you planning to do?' I swear I saw a twinkle in his eye – he was enjoying it!!

'Shopping?'

'Well, I personally hate shopping, but hope you enjoy your trip with your mum! I'll be watching!' And then he was gone swinging out the window gracefully and landing on the grass patch outside my window with a soft thud.

I swear, he planned this.

CHAPTER 4

'Angel, why don't you come over here and look at this cute little dress. It'll look so good on you.'

My mom was holding up a pink little girl dress with a hoop skirt and puffy sleeves. The skirt was covered with netting that had little flowers sewn into it. How cute... for little girls. Not girls that are fifteen years old!

'Mom, I don't wear dresses,' I held up a slip off the shoulder faded tee that I had brought over from the other end of the shop. 'What about this?'

She sighed. 'I don't understand why you would want to buy something that looks so faded and worn; it's a waste of money.'

'Mom, it's what I like to wear. No point buying some old dress that I will never ever wear, so why don't you spend your money on something that I will wear.'

'Okay, fine. I don't want to spend the afternoon being mad at you. Go pick a few shirts that you like, but I will only buy them if I approve.'

This kind of translated in my head to: no halter tops, tube tops, spaghetti stripe tops, or miniskirts, which, was perfectly fine by me since I don't wear these things anyway.

I flashed a huge grin at my mum. 'Thanks, mom!' this was exactly what she liked to hear, 'you're the best.'

I heard her talking to whoever was near her, 'see my girl? She's all grown up now, wants her own way, and won't listen to poor old mummy anymore.'

I heard her rattling on about how when I was younger I would always ask her to choose pretty dresses for me, how I clung on to her legs on the first day of elementary school, refusing to let go and begging her to bring me home as I browsed along the sales tables. The tables had huge red placards above them, saying that the shirts were going at three for a dirt cheap fifteen bucks.

I was browsing through the shirts on sale when I felt a tap on my shoulder. Turning around I saw no one, and my mother was still on the opposite end of the store. However, when I turned back I found Matt was leaning on the table of clothes, nonchalant as ever, as if he had always been there.

'What are you doing here?' I hissed at him. My mom was just across the store, browsing through what she thought were the most appropriate, and nicest clothes that would fit me. Not necessarily what I thought was nice or appropriate. In fact my mom and I were so different, some people actually gasped when they were told we were mother and daughter.

'Don't worry, your mom's not looking here right now,' he said nonchalantly as if he had not just violated the basics of spy work.

'What if she turns around?' I slapped him on his arm, annoyed.

'I'll just be another shopper to her, relax, Angie, nothing's gonna happen!' he sighed.

'Yeah right. You're just another shopper, especially since you're obviously not shopping, and at the proximity you are standing next to me at, sure looks like we do not know each other.' I said sarcastically.

'Aw...what happened to you Angie? You're such a goody-two-shoes now.' He looked at me pityingly, 'what happened to the old one I used to know?'

'I think I have always been like this?'

He stuck his tongue out at me, 'kill joy.'

I punched him on the shoulder, 'stop playing, and watch out, if my mother looks over here you better not be one of the objects she sees.'

'Yes ma'am.' He saluted playfully.

I laughed and ruffled his hair.

'Hey,' he pouted, 'I'm not a little kid.'

'Yeah, right.'

I returned to scanning the shirts on the table top. The next time I looked around, Matt was gone. I searched all over the store scrutinising everything with my eyes, looking for Matt. I hadn't a clue where he was. I was always right; this guy had talent. In a way, I was really glad that Matt was my bodyguard.

When I returned home, the body had been cleared out, and there was no trace that the body had ever been there. That was how sometimes we dealt with people who had seen agents at work, having been at the wrong place at the wrong time. Wait long enough, and your brain would start questioning itself whether the series of events had ever happened or not, and the event would eventually take on a dream like reality. This was used for less traumatic cases, minor cases where witnesses had had no actual part in the operation, but happened to see something they should not have.

I opened my window and said to Matt, who must have out there, 'come in if you want to.'

If my mother saw this she must have thought I was crazy. I walked away from my window but left it open. Matt didn't come in this time, to my surprise I felt strangely disappointed. But I relented, and started doing calculus homework, which helped me take my mind off Matt's strange absence.

At around seven, and an hour of calculus, Matt hopped into my room through the window with a boy who looked around thirteen or fourteen, with jet black hair, and an Asian looking face, following behind.

'Hey Angie, this is Rob.' Matt said, gesturing to the boy.

I was shocked into silence. I never expected my bodyguard to be younger than I was. Everyone was given a choice to continue studying before working for Mr Jones. No one had ever turned that opportunity down. This guy was so young; wouldn't his parents have something to say about his not being around at night?

Matt understood my silence, 'weird right? I never knew there were such young agents.'

I finally spoke, albeit it was only one syllable. 'How?'

This time Rob answered, 'I'm an orphan. Mr Jones also runs a few orphanages where everyone joins the martial arts course as part of our schooling at seven.'

'Oh.'

That made perfect sense. At an orphanage, no one would care if one of the orphans were missing so they could start working for Mr Jones whenever they thought they were ready. It was also so much easier to cover up if one never came back. The genius and the inhumanity of this struck me at the same time. But I guess the orphans would not have a much better choice.

Rob continued his explanation, 'The ones that are better will get picked out for special training. We can start working for them after we finish the special training, so most of us do. We are mostly glad that there is a way out of staying in the orphanage until we're eighteen. So I guess what I'm trying to say is don't worry about me being young and all that - by the way I'm already fourteen, which is quite old – I know people in general worry about kids like us. But I really do love this job.'

I was quite shocked by his proclamation; it could almost have been a teacher proclaiming his love for teaching, or a scientist with his love of science, or a doctor with the hope of preserving life. Just that it really did not fit, it was so wrong, sacrificing the lives of kids.

I looked at Matt. He winked back, 'Cute kid, huh?'

Rob punched Matt playfully in the stomach, 'I'm not a kid, and you're barely eighteen yourself.'

Matt crossed his arms over his stomach in mock pain, and pretended to be thrown back into the wall.

I giggled at their playful exchange; it was almost as if they were normal kids. But the word 'normal' was the far from the truth.

Matt walked over and slung his arm over my shoulders casually, 'Got to go now kids, see you tomorrow morning!' he reached up and ruffled my hair before ruffling Rob's, and slinging his body out the window. I heard the thud as he landed outside the window; already I could not wait for tomorrow, when I would see him again.

I looked over at Rob and he rolled his eyes at me, 'Despite what he thinks, I'm not a kid.'

I heard the porch door open and close again. Which meant that my dad was home, which naturally meant it was dinner time, since it was Friday.

I turned back to Rob. 'Hey, it's my dinner time. I need to go downstairs. You had dinner?'

Rob nodded. 'You go on ahead. Can I sleep here tonight instead of outside? Please?'

How could I resist a kid? Not that I could resist Matt either, and he definitely wasn't a kid.

'Sure.'

'Great! I'll be back at around ten.' He hopped out the window too, where Matt had just been a moment ago.

I turned and headed out my room and down the stairs, for dinner.

CHAPTER 5

'Hey, dad!' I greeted cheerfully as I came down the stairs and crashed into his arms for a hug in one movement. He gave me one tight squeeze and released me again.

My dad was quite the opposite of my mom. He was tall and broad, he used to be handsome, I've seen some of his pictures of when he was younger. However, he now had a paunch and most of his hair was gone. Jared, my brother, came crashing down the stairs after me.

'Hi, dad. What's for dinner?'

Of course, he wasn't aiming for a hug or greeting my father.

Jared looked exactly like my father in his younger days. He was handsome, but his personality kind of over rode the plus point of being handsome. I really pity whichever girl he marries in the future, and I am sure he will disappoint whoever has a crush on him. Excuse me for saying this, but, he is such total jerk/idiot/retard/faggot and whatever other name you can think of that's bad.

Firstly, he thinks the whole world revolves around him; he plays his music till 1am in the morning when my mother will probably go over and off it for him because he is probably sleeping by that time, whereas everybody else in the house is wide awake because of his music. He plays the electric guitar horribly, but he thinks it's great and makes everyone else listen to his horrible music or rather, sounds. Now he even wants a drum set. Knowing my mother she'll probably get it for him.

We settled down around the dinner table for dinner, it was chicken noodle which my dad had picked up on his way home from the Chinese takeout store. My dad tries to rotate the type foods he buys, but most of the time he ends up buying the same things every two weeks. But no one complains; anything was better than eating my mom's food, which had even less variety.

I ate my dinner up hurriedly, slurping down my noodles, and throwing the plastic box in which the noodles was packed in the store, into the bin. I had not bothered to transfer my noodles into a bowl. After excusing myself from the dinner table, I went upstairs into my room.

As agreed, Rob came into my room at about ten fifteen. But by then I was itching to see either him or Matt. Anything was better than staring at the four plain white walls of my so familiar room, knowing someone was coming over but not sure when.

By eleven we were ready for bed, or at least I was. I think Rob was supposed to stay awake protecting me, but he seemed to be sleeping in his sleeping bag that he had brought with him. I walked across the corridor to my parents' room, to say goodnight to them, a nightly ritual I had followed since young. After giving each of them a hug and my mother a kiss, I went back to my room. Before turning of the light I read a page of my bible and said a quick prayer. As I put my bible back into the drawer, I heard a sound of fabric rubbing against another fabric. I turned to see Rob sitting up in his sleeping bag, 'Angie?' he said, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, 'you going to sleep yet?'

'Yep. Going now.'

' Okay, goodnight. See you in the morning.'

Rob pushed himself off the ground and sat on the windowsill, swinging his legs up as well, fitting himself snugly into the window.

'If you need a chair, help yourself, it's not a problem.' I crawled into my bed and under my blanket, snuggling into a comfortable position, and offing the lights.

I looked at his serious face as he stared out the window in the moonlight. The soft light made him look even younger than he was. No one so young should be exposed to this level of danger. People this age should be at home, snuggling with their parents, being the safest they can be in their life. And yet here Rob was, protecting me even though he was younger than I was. But there was nothing I could do about it. Someday, I thought. Someday.

Meanwhile, I would sleep and dream wonderful dreams, and hopefully, one day, I would be able to make a difference. Hopefully, I would be able to see Matt tomorrow too.

'Hey! Don't do that!' Rob pouted. Matt just laughed. It was Saturday, and I wasn't needed at work today, so I was on a little outing with Matt and Rob to 'bond'. Although it wasn't Rob's duty time currently, he had said he wasn't needed anywhere else and so, since all three of us were together, we decided to go out.

I told my mom that I was going to Leanne's house, and promptly got out of the house. Leanne had been my best friend since the first year of junior high, and another girl, Elisa, joined our group as well in the second year. That year, most of my old friends had been put into different classes and we hardly saw each other anymore. So I made new friends, but I found that I clicked with Leanne the best. So since then, we have been best friends.

'Hey, do you all feel like having ice cream? It'll be my treat. Angie?' Matt looked at me.

'Oh yeah! You rock Matt!' Rob punched the air, 'Angie?' both boys looked at me.

I shrugged, 'Sure. Is someone going to buy the ice cream? Or do we go together to get it?'

'Okay, I'll go get it.' Rob offered.

'I want strawberry.' I said.

'I want cookies and cream!' Matt nearly shouted. He sounded like a little boy, excited for ice cream, although he was seventeen already.

'Okay. Be back in a flash.' Then Rob turned and left.

'Angie,' Matt turned to me. 'I never got to ask you this question. Why did you quit when you had only one year left?'

'I was scared.'

'Of?' Matt raised his eyebrow. He evidently didn't feel the way I did.

'You know the way some of them never came back? When there were the call backs, when they were to come back for retraining for a week or so? The people I had made friends with, the people who weren't my friends, but I recognised, they just weren't there. I kept telling myself that they would come back, just that they were on a mission and hadn't come back yet, but there was no way to lie to myself, after they kept missing one after another of the call backs, and I was just so, so scared.' I felt tears in my eyes brimming over and immediately felt embarrassed.

Matt tentatively reached over; he made as if to wipe the tears off my face, then he seemed to decide against it and patted me on my shoulder instead.

'You're already out of service Angie, there's no need to worry.'

'There is need to worry, remember the Nexus? The reason you're here? I'm not in service but...' I trailed off. I realised that I was going to say that Matt was still in there. But that was weird, why would I care whether Matt's life was constantly in danger? It was none of my business. I care because I taught him, because he was once my student, and because I didn't like losing people who I had come to know, that was the reason I quit, right?

'Here's the ice cream!' I saw Rob's lanky frame through the blur of my tears a few metres away. I quickly turned away to wipe the tears off my face, and turned back with a smile on my face, thanking Rob for buying the ice cream for me, and Matt for sponsoring it. Matt gave me a concerned look, I smiled back. Rob handed the ice creams to us and the receipt to Matt.

We licked our ice creams and walked around the park another round and chit chatted while walking, before Rob declared himself too tired to continue on anymore, and made his way home, leaving Matt and I to walk back to my home by ourselves.

'Angie?' Matt asked tentatively as we walked. We had been walking for about ten minutes without talking.

'Yes?'

'Um... Mr Jones wants you to come in, for some questioning.' He hesitated.

I started laughing.

'What's so funny?' his handsome face was quizzical.

'I don't know.' I said still giggling, 'I am a bit weird you know?'

'A bit?' I slapped him on the back.

'Looks like you haven't lost your touch.' He said rubbing his back where I had slapped him.

'Hah. Loser.'

'Anyway, about the meeting you don't mind do you?' he asked concern etched in his face.

Knowing Mr Jones, if I didn't say yes, he'd get someone to drag me to the meeting place. He got his way all the time, whether you liked it or not. Meaning, I only had one possible answer.

'Yeah, sure, no problem.'

I heard Matt exhale an audible sigh of relief, which probably meant if I said no, he would be the one to drag me in.

CHAPTER 6

The meeting wasn't so bad after all. The interrogators asked very simple questions and I said whatever I could remember, I did not see Mr Jones at all. And all too soon, school was starting again, for some reason; Matt was missing on the first day when I made my way to school.

The bell rang. Chairs scraped against the ground as they were pushed back, everyone grabbed our literature book: Romeo and Juliet, and made our way out of class. Leanne was waiting outside of my class for me when I came out; she shot off talking at the speed of a bullet.

'Mrs McCray actually let us off early today, that is so unbelievable, though I guess it was because Nathaniel got her really pissed, by commenting on the way she speaks again; you know, with the slur and everything. Oh! I cannot believe I didn't tell you this piece of information first. There's this majorly hot guy who has just transferred over to our school.'

I had reached my locker, and was opening it to get my books for my next lesson; history. While Leanne opened hers, beside mine, continuing on with her rambling.

'Hi Angie!' an all too familiar voice that I had been hearing for the past month said.

Leanne gasped and dropped all the books in her arms. It was Matt. The new student.

'You know the new student?' Leanne whispered.

'Uh huh.'

'And you never told me?'

'Well, I didn't know he was joining this school.' I said as I got up and gave the books to Leanne. Giving Matt a dry look as well, he grinned back at me.

'Oh well better get to class. What you got up next Matt?' I say.

'History, I think I'm in the same class as you are.'

'Yeah, you think.' My voice dripping with sarcasm, 'you can follow us if you want to. Even if you are not in the same class' highly unlikely 'we'll still be in the history block, you can then find your own way.'

As we walked, I heard Leanne trying to talk to Matt. Asking him about his family and where he studied previously. I heard Matt answer her, telling her that he had no siblings – which was actually true – and his parents are free lance authors who work from home. Being an author was a perfect fit for the part; there was little contact with the outside world. But I knew for a fact that his father had abandoned his mother and him when he was still young, his mother was a janitor somewhere in Frostburg. He also said he had come over from Connecticut. This was of course not the truth again.

'How did you meet Angel?' Leanne says, effectively catching my attention. I listen hard to hear the answer.

'I met her last year, when she came to Connecticut for a holiday; I was working in the hotel where she stayed for the holidays.'

I felt his gaze on my back.

We reached our classroom. 'Oh, I am actually in the same class as you, how lucky!'

No surprise there.

Mr Raj was already there, so was most of the class, except for us.

'How nice of you see the new student to class, Angel, Leanne, but I would appreciate it if you weren't late as well, okay?' Mr Raj had taught us history last year as well.

'Yes, sir,' we said and went to two adjoining seats.

'And you, must be Matt, the new student, please feel free to take any of the empty seats,' he continued.

'Yes, sir,' Matt took his books over to the third empty seat beside me and sat down.

It was our lunch break and Leanne, Elisa and her boyfriend, Will, Will's best friend; Nathaniel, Matt and I were sitting in our usual table with our lunch trays in front of us. All of us being Christians, with the exception of Matt, we said a little prayer together before digging into the food.

Matt had been introduced to everyone, and had also hit it off with everyone with his happy go lucky personality. Everyone had basically asked the same questions as Leanne had, Leanne being the most enthusiastic, it was obvious she liked Matt. Nathaniel had a look of general unhappiness on his face; it had been obvious to everyone in the group except Leanne that he liked her.

Generally, it was a good day, made especially bright by Matt's presence.

At least it was to me.

I was just counting the second to the end of school, Ms Barry's voice was droning on and on somewhere in the background in my head. We were having calculus, and I had already covered this topic during the holidays when reading through my textbook.

Finally, the bell rang. I quickly dumped all my books into my bag slung it on my shoulder, and left the class waving goodbye to Nathaniel, who was the only one in my group of friends other than I who had calculus in the same periods as I did.

As I passed out of the school gate, Matt fell into stride beside me as I knew he would.

'You never told me you were joining my school.'

'Well, did you get a nice surprise?' he asked grinning.

I smiled reluctantly, 'yeah, yeah. You know, I think Leanne, is infatuated with you. She couldn't stop talking about you.'

This was actually true, all during computer class, which was the only other subject other than history which we had together, she kept up her rambling about Matt. Eventually, I had this funny feeling that there was a fly was flying beside my ear. I was quite near to swatting it.

'Hmm... That's interesting, what do you think about it?'

'I think that your appearance in my school has caused quite a disturbance. About every girl in the school has fallen for 'the new hot guy'.

'How about yourself? Fallen for me yet?'

Had I?

'Nah. Don't kid yourself; you're not all that hot.'

'So I am hot,' he said grinning. 'You said it yourself.'

'Yeah, fine, you are. Happy?'

'Yep, I am.' He chuckled, 'I think so too, in addition to being cute, eloquent, and lovable.'

'You should know something else about yourself.'

'And that is?'

'You have a really, really thick skull.'

He laughed.

'I have to ask you this question. How old are you?'

He looked at me, surprised, 'I thought you knew. I'm going on seventeen this year, my birthday is in December.'

'No I didn't know. So you're pretending to be my age in school?'

'Pretty much, yeah.'

We reached my house.

'Get in through the window,' I said, walking up the porch, 'see you in my room.'

'Yes ma'am.'

The familiar phrase we had used so often during training caught me off guard, and I paused for a while in the middle of the porch, before continuing on to the living room.

My mum was out today. She had told me she was going to play tennis with some friends today.

As I walked past Jared's room, I noticed that he had his music blaring out. I popped my head in for a moment to check whether he was in there or his music had been left on. I found him lying on his bed, tapping his hand on his bedside table in time with his heavy metal music.

'Hey, Angie!' he said when he said when he saw me in the doorway, 'someone called up for you just now, he left a message.' His face looked grim, 'I'm not sure if I should be worried, but I think it was some kind of death threat and he sounded quite serious, but maybe it's a prank.' He shrugged.

'No. No it's okay, it's just a prank. Don't tell mum or dad, they'll just freak out.'

I felt just the opposite of what I had said. I definitely don't think it was a prank, I think they were very serious, and I would be telling mum and dad if there was even the slightest chance that they could help me, but they couldn't, they wouldn't even understand. Having had such a wonderful summer, we had all let down our guard. I hurried on into my room, where I could discuss this with Matt. For the first time since the first attack, I was very, very scared.

********

I woke up with a jerk. I had just had a nightmare, I dreamt that the big muscular man who Matt killed that first day, had come after me, knife in hand, and this time, Matt didn't appear to save the day. I had felt the cold, hard metal of the blade slide through the first layer of skin before I had woken up.

I took deep, steady breaths to calm my racing heart. My right hand felt warm, and I looked down to find that Matt's hands still wrapped around it. I had asked him to hold my hand as I slept. It gave me sense of calm, that at least there was someone there for me, someone from whom I had nothing to hide. I had fallen asleep before Rob had come in, still shaken, but comforted by Matt's presence. I am glad Matt stayed though I didn't ask him to.

'Angie you okay there?'

I nearly jumped with fright, Rob was sitting on the window seat, as usual, and as it was I had jerked my hand so hard Matt had woken up too.

'Huh? Angie, what's wrong?' he said after he had looked around the room for any sign of danger, pulling a hand across his face.

'Sorry, shouldn't have said anything, my bad.' Rob said.

'Its okay kid, she's just a bit freaked out.'

'Don't worry about me, I'm fine, really. Just had a nightmare, that's all.'

Rob walked over and rubbed my arm comfortingly, Matt gave my hand a light squeeze.

I laughed.

'You know, if I had brothers like you two I wouldn't ask for anything else in this world.'

Rob looked absolutely pleased with my remark, but Matt still looked slightly troubled although there was a slight smile on his face. He must still be worried about the situation.


End file.
